Folk festival from artist’s perspective
Janice Thiessen, EMC News
EMC Entertainment – When children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, most parents hope for the classics-doctor, layer, teacher but what about a career in the arts?
Folk singer and sponsorship manager for Ottawa Folk Festival Ana Miura, didn’t start out wanting to be a famous rock star but just wanting to play music for fun. Thanks to a lot of hard work and a bit of luck she has developed a strong career in the music industry.
“It really depends, for all genres (of musicians) what your goals are. It depends on if you want to be famous or just want to make a living, it’s a different take. When I first started I did it for fun. I didn’t realize I could do that for a job,” said Miura. “When I finished school, I realized I could have a go at this because more people than my friends and family thought I was good.”
Miura has been a folk singer and songwriter for ten years but had her big break when she performed at the folk festival in 2009.
“My first break was through Chris White, previous artistic director for the Ottawa Folk Festival who gave me the opportunity to play at the festival. As an artist it’s essential (to play local venues) because if you’re playing in Ottawa or out of town, people are taking a chance on you. They look at where you’ve played and who supports you, especially if they’ve never seen you perform.
Read more on the EMC News website: Folk festival from artist’s perspective
Singer Ana Miura reconciles with her musical muse: Folk festival’s new go-to woman content with her life
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Overall, Miura says it’s a happier album than her previous one. It will be released Sunday during a concert in the Acoustic Waves series at Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre. The series, in collaboration with the Great Canadian Theatre Company, is a fundraiser for the folk festival.
“It shows the departure I feel from more melancholy songs to stuff that’s a little more happy, cheery,” Miura says of the new CD.
Full article: Singer Ana Miura reconciles with her musical muse
Folk singer Ana Miura Named General Manager of Ottawa Folk Festival
By DENIS ARMSTRONG
Ottawa Sun
After years as a local folk music icon, Ana Miura’s finally got a day job, and it comes with an office, a computer and a water cooler.
In February, she became the new general manager of the Ottawa Folk Festival, but she hasn’t exactly traded in her guitar for a laptop. Not yet, anyway, not with the launch of a brand new album called The Kindness of Years and an Acoustic Waves gig at the Great Canadian Theatre on Sunday (March 14).
Miura, who’s recorded three albums and heads the Babes For Breasts campaign, came to the festival’s top job last summer, when Chris White, the festival’s founding artistic director, recruited the motivated Miura to co-ordinate the festival’s Britannia Park gardens when she wasn’t playing the main stage with Bruce Cockburn, Joel Plaskett and Steven Page.
To read the full article, see Folk singer Ana Miura Gets a Day Job.
